In warehouses today, especially large, high volume warehouses, productivity is very important to achieving timely movement of materials. Every facet of vehicle and operator movement is scrutinized for opportunities to reduce wasted time and motion.
One of the key processes used in achieving high efficiency is “low-level orderpicking.” In this procedure, forklift trucks, especially pallet trucks, end rider trucks, and center rider trucks, are used to pick cartons from pallets in racking systems from low-level positions and to place one load onto pallets located on the vehicle. The trucks are typically configured to include a “deadman” brake that is activated when the steering arm is released, as, for example, when the operator leaves the vehicle. Therefore, in typical operation, the vehicle stops whenever the operator leaves the vehicle to pick a carton.
To improve the efficiency of orderpicking, the vehicle can be provided with a coast system. The coast system is typically activated by a truck-mounted switch or switches and, when activated, prevents activation of the deadman brake when the handle is released, allowing the vehicle to continue to move or “coast” when the operator leaves the vehicle to retrieve a carton before returning to place it on the forks. These systems improve efficiency and can allow operators to achieve productivity levels of 2-3 picks per minute for short periods of time.
While improving efficiency, however, time is lost and motion wasted by requiring the operator to continuously return to the control handle of the vehicle. There is therefore a limit to the amount of operator productivity improvement possible with these methods unless the operator's movements can be more efficiently utilized. The present invention addresses these problems.